1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cassette apparatuses, and pertains more particularly to a cassette apparatus, such as an answering machine, which uses double cassette tapes and is provided with a tape changing mechanism.
2. BACKGROUND DISCUSSION
FIG. 1 shows an example of the conventional answering machine of the type which accommodates a plurality of cassette tapes, in this case, two cassette tapes. A first cassette tape Ca is used to record an answering message to let a caller know that the user of the answering machine is not there and ask the caller to record a message. A second cassette tape Cr is used to record the caller's message.
FIG. 2 shows a driving mechanism for the two cassette tapes Ca and Cr. The driving mechanism generally comprises a head base 11 slidable in directions A.sub.1 and A.sub.2, a recording and reproducing head 12 and an erase head 13 mounted on the head base 11, a capstan 14, a pinch roller 15 for transporting a tape in a state pinched between the capstan 14 and the pinch roller 15, and a solenoid 16 for sliding the head base 11 in the directions A.sub.1 and A.sub.2.The driving mechanism further comprises a flywheel 17 fixed coaxially to the capstan 14, a driving device including a motor 18 for driving a supply reel drive sprocket 19 and a take-up reel drive sprocket 20, and a rotation detecting mechanism 21 for detecting a rotational state of the supply reel drive 19. In the driving mechanism, the heads 12 and 13, the solenoid 16 and the motor 18 are expensive in comparison to the remaining parts.
According to the conventional answering machine which uses two cassette tapes, the driving mechanism shown in FIG. 2 must be provided independently for the cassette tapes Ca and Cr. In other words, two driving mechanisms must be provided in the answering machine. As a result, the number of parts constituting the conventional answering machine is large, and the conventional answering machine inevitably is expensive.